Category Archives: UK news

UK, US and other countries to pause funding for key UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees

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Move by several countries comes after allegations that UNRWA staff took part in attacks on Israel last year

The decision by the US, UK and other western nations to freeze ­funding for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees will significantly worsen the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians have warned.

Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland joined the United States, Australia and Canada in pausing funding after UNRWA, the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, revealed an investigation had been launched into 12 members of staff who allegedly took part in the 7 October attack led by Hamas that killed 1,140 people.

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Chancellor considers further national insurance cut to take heat off Rishi Sunak

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Jeremy Hunt targets further reduction in ‘jobs tax’ in March budget

The government is considering handing workers another tax cut with a further reduction in national insurance, amid desperate attempts to move on from a campaign to destabilise Rishi Sunak by the Tory right.

With frustration within the cabinet that the Conservative party has been unable to free itself from internal warring over Sunak’s immigration plans and leadership, the prime minister and his chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, are focusing on the tax cuts that will frame their election pitch.

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Voters think Labour would be better than Conservatives on housing and house prices

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Opposition would do better on issues including the economy, health, education, the environment, immigration and crime, public says

More than twice as many voters believe a Labour government would be better for housing than the Tories, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

The survey shows Labour is well ahead of the Conservatives on most issues including the economy, health, education, the environment, immigration and crime, and level pegging on ones it has traditionally lagged way behind on, including defence.

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Chester Market evacuated after chilli fumes affect customers

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Vapour created by a stall-holder ‘cooking a large amount of chillies’ entered ventilation system

A market in Chester was evacuated on Saturday because of fumes caused by a stall-holder “cooking a large amount of chillies”.

Chester fire and rescue service said vapour from the cooking of a large quantity of chilli oil had entered the market’s ventilation system.

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Police were warned of offender safety fears before Nottingham killings

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An official report a year before three people were stabbed to death in the city raised concerns about the force’s management practices

Nottinghamshire police was ordered to review its management of offenders a year before a wanted man with paranoid schizophrenia stabbed three people to death.

A report by the official policing inspectorate in April 2022 said the force should “immediately review” their approach to managing low-risk offenders to ensure risk was “effectively monitored and managed”.

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Mother of stabbed Nottingham university student calls for inquiry

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Emma Webber describes ‘fury’ at sentence received by Valdo Calocane for deadly rampage last June

The mother of one of the students stabbed to death in Nottingham has called for an inquiry into any failings that led to the knife attacks.

Emma Webber told the Times that her family “fully support” calls for a public inquiry, which also has the backing of the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, into the killings of her son Barnaby Webber, fellow University of Nottingham student Grace O’Malley-Kumar and the 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates.

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Britons switching to smaller, higher-quality alcoholic drinks, experts say

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Increasing preference said to be driven by desire to be healthier and is fuelling trend for 100ml taster bottles

As the adage goes: good things come in small packages. According to alcohol industry experts British consumers are increasingly choosing to enjoy their beverages in smaller portions, but of higher quality – fuelling a trend for 100ml taster bottles.

The shift comes from a desire to be healthier, experts say, with drinking among UK teenagers and young people falling. In June 2023, Tesco sold 25% more low- and non-alcoholic beer than in dry January.

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Savings passbooks popular as Britain turns to cash amid cost of living crisis

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While some banks and building societies scrap system, others report increase in usage by customers

While some banks are scrapping passbook savings accounts amid suggestions they are past their sell-by date, other providers have reported an increase in their usage as people turn to cash to help them manage the cost of living.

Newcastle building society said that in 2023 it issued about three times as many passbooks as it did in 2021, and that it is getting new customers on the back of decisions by rivals to axe them.

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‘We can’t engineer our way out of this’: how to protect flood-hit Severn Valley

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Tens of millions have been spent on human-made defences over the years, but the impact of the climate crisis means flooding is inevitable

When Jo Bloom saw the monitoring station on the River Severn above Shrewsbury register water levels of 6.5 metres as Storm Henk struck in early January, she began preparing for the worst. Bloom, who runs the Bewdley Flood Group, a local initiative to disseminate information to the community, was crouched over her computer checking Environment Agency alerts on river levels as the storm battered southern and central Britain, bringing with it heavy rain on to already saturated ground.

“We have had one peak, we are all watching Crew Green gauge above Shrewsbury, which is 10cm off its 2000 record level,” she told the flood group.

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Abortion investigations causing women ‘life-changing harm’, says UK expert

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Women losing ‘everything’ after being accused of illegal abortion in England and Wales, even if not charged, says Dr Jonathan Lord

Women in England and Wales accused of having illegal abortions have been held in custody after pregnancy loss, had their children taken into care and been saddled with debt, an expert has said.

Dr Jonathan Lord, a co-chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) abortion taskforce, said he was aware of up to 30 “deeply traumatic” cases where women had been investigated by the police, with some suffering “life-changing harm”.

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US planning to station nuclear weapons in UK amid threat from Russia – report

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Missiles could be placed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk in case of potential war between Nato and Russia

The US is planning to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years amid a growing threat from Russia, according to a report. Warheads three times as strong as the Hiroshima bomb would be located at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk under the proposals, the Telegraph reported.

The US previously placed nuclear missiles at RAF Lakenheath and removed them in 2008 after the cold war threat from Moscow receded. Pentagon documents seen by the newspaper reveal procurement contracts for a new facility at the airbase.

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Labour vows to reform ministerial severance pay after Tories handed £1m last year

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Individuals deemed unfit for office still walked away with payments from taxpayers, says shadow Cabinet Office minister

Labour has pledged to reform the rules surrounding ministerial redundancy payments after it emerged that the high turnover of cabinet ministers under the past three prime ministers generated a severance bill worth more than £930,000 in the last financial year.

Since 1991, sacked ministers under the age of 65 have been able to claim thousands of pounds in redundancy pay as long as they have been out of a ministerial post for at least three weeks. The receive the payments irrespective of how long they have stayed in their latest post, or the circumstances under which they left.

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French Holocaust denier found in Fife loses extradition fight

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Vincent Reynouard discovered living double life in Scottish village where he worked as a tutor, reports say

A Holocaust denier who was arrested in a Scottish fishing village will be extradited back to France after spending two years on the run from the authorities.

Vincent Reynouard lost his extradition battle after his arrest in November 2022. He had been discovered living a double life in Anstruther, Fife, where he worked as a private tutor, according to reports.

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‘I’m victim of failing system,’ Mia Janin’s father says after inquest into girl’s death

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Coroner concluded 14-year-old girl took her life after prolonged and sustained bullying in person and online

The father of a 14-year-old girl who killed herself after being bullied has said his family are victims of a “failing system” after an inquest into her death.

Mia Janin, a year 10 pupil at the Jewish free school in Kenton, north-west London, was found dead at her family home in Harrow on 12 March 2021.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Man who stole Duke of Westminster’s watches given suspended sentence

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Decorator Matthew Turner stole three watches worth more than £30,000 from Hugh Grosvenor’s bedroom

A decorator who stole three watches worth more than £30,000 from the Duke of Westminster’s home has been told he “escaped prison by the skin of your teeth”.

Matthew Turner, 24, was given a 20-month sentence, suspended for two years, at Chester crown court after admitting the burglary of three watches from Hugh Grosvenor’s bedroom while he was doing renovation work at Eaton Hall in August 2022.

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Telegraph takeover decision put back by fresh inquiry into Barclay family’s UAE-backed deal

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Regulators’ reports on public interest risk now due on 11 March after late change in consortium’s structure prompts further review

A second investigation has been launched into the Barclay family’s deal to transfer control of the Telegraph newspaper group, pushing the deadline for regulators’ reports on the public interest threat it poses by more than six weeks.

The UK government moved swiftly to order the second watchdog inquiry after the Barclays’ UAE-backed consortium partner revealed a last-minute corporate structure change.

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Vodafone should spin off sensitive work after UAE deal, say UK officials

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National security concerns focus on arm of Vodafone that provides sensitive tech to government departments and agencies

Vodafone should be forced to spin off its most sensitive activities in order to quash national security concerns raised by a United Arab Emirates-backed telecoms group swooping on its shares, government officials have told the Guardian.

The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, announced on Wednesday that the deal involving Emirates Telecommunications Group building a 14.6% stake in Vodafone presented a “national security risk” to the UK due to Vodafone’s role “as a strategic supplier of services” to government departments, including those “which are in support of national security”.

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Alfie Steele: more than 60 calls made to police and social services before boy’s murder

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Nine-year-old had been recorded as ‘safe and well’ in months before he was killed, review finds

A nine-year-old boy who was tortured to death by his mother and stepfather had been recorded as “safe and well” after visits by police and social services in the months before he was killed, a review has found.

Family and neighbours of Alfie Steele from Droitwich, Worcestershire, made more than 60 calls about his welfare in the period leading up to his murder in February 2021, including a call saying it sounded as if he was “being hit and held under the water”.

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Tory donors deny funding poll for group working to oust Sunak

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Donors close to Boris Johnson and hedge fund boss behind GB News say they had no involvement in polling

Conservative donors have been rushing to deny funding polling for a group working to oust Rishi Sunak, as David Frost was warned he could lose the whip if rival party backers were involved.

Senior Tory figures are scrambling to figure out the mystery donors behind the Conservative Britain Alliance, which funded a £40,000 poll, fronted by Lord Frost in the Telegraph, that predicted a Labour landslide.

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